Super Lig clubs have made a combined total of €400 million from selling players in the past four seasons.
The revenue pulled in by Turkish Super Lig clubs from transfers in the last four seasons has approached €400 million, according to Turkish media outlet Hurriyet.
While that may be an impressive figure, it didn’t stop the clubs from making headlines recently over their mounting debts which will now be restructured in a project run by the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) and Turkish Banking Association (TBB).
The project, which is not a new debt package, aims to strengthen the managerial and financial structure of the clubs. On the other hand, recent financial struggles and UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations also forced Turkish heavyweights to change their flamboyant transfer policies.
Top tier teams have now come to the fore with transfers they made in the last four season and the income they’ve generated. In order to comply with the financial criteria of the TFF, clubs are not turning down high transfer offers from abroad. Thus, they sell off high-paid foreign players and offer young talents to European clubs.
Last week one of Turkey’s leading clubs, Galatasaray, sold their young talent Ozan Kabak to VfB Stuttgart for €11 million, which has placed them in the lead as the league’s player exporting hubs.
Galatasaray are reported to have managed to make a total of €97.4 million in transfers in the last 4 years. They reached the highest amount in the 2017-2018 season with €36 million in transfer fees pulled in from abroad in one season.
The club generated record transfer income in the last four years, particularly from selling Badou Ndiaye to Stoke City. Ndiaye’s transfer to Stoke City last season brought in €16 million while they made close to €30 million from player transfers this season so far.
Another Istanbul powerhouse, Besiktas followed suit as one of the prominent clubs in player transfers this season. The club, which stood out with their free and low-cost transfers, managed to sell many of these players to foreign clubs at high prices.
During this period, Besiktas reached €91 million in transfers, including that of striker Cenk Tosun’s move to Everton. Having brought in Tosun from Gaziantepspor on a free transfer, the club sold him to the Premier League outfit, generating over €22 million.
Despite the hike in player sales, Turkish teams that spend almost as much as their incomes were not listed among the 40 most profitable clubs in the world. Monaco took the lead in the 2018-2019 season, followed by Bayern Munich.
Monaco made €316 million in revenue this year while spending €141 million. German giant Bayern Munich, on the other hand, made a profit of €70 million this season.
